UCF's 3D Design students rise to the challenge

Ambrose Vevers, a second-year student on BA(Hons) 3D Design at University College Falmouth has won the Barncrest Worktops Challenge for which he has been awarded a cheque for £1000 and the opportunity to work with the Penryn-based company to develop his winning idea.

Barncrest teamed up with University College Falmouth to invite 3D Design students to design prototype products that were not only commercially viable but could also be created using small offcut pieces of waste timber.

"We successfully recycle over 80% of our waste but still generate a reasonable amount of offcut wood due to the large number of kitchen worktops and furniture that we produce," said Managing Director, Quintin Batt. "The wood is of outstanding quality and far too good to waste so we simply had to find a way of turning these small pieces into useful products."

Seven students rose to the challenge. James Howlett designed modular tables by exploring geometric forms; Wade Dunstan and Alex Boswell worked together to design a simple and elegant wall hanging wine rack; Alex White designed two self-supporting tables that slotted together and could also be adapted to flooring and table tops; Sarak Parks crafted interlocking benches that could be made to fit any space; Lisa Fuller produced a stacking five-a-day fruit bowl and elegant dish salver; and Ambrose Vevers created a chair, bar stool and milking stool by lashing together pieces of wood with bungee cord to create a wooden fabric, inspired by Barncrest's ethos of simply designed and beautifully crafted furniture.

"All of the students approached their designs from very different perspectives and the results were fantastic," said Barncrest's General Manager, Steve Clemens. "I would like to thank all of the students who entered the competition as they clearly put a great deal of thought and hard work into their projects."

Su Vernon, Course Leader on BA(Hons) 3D Design was delighted that the students were once again working with a live brief to create designs that could form part of their portfolios. "This has been a fantastic opportunity for students to use their creative design skills and work with a local manufacturing company," she said. "What makes this challenge unique is that Ambrose will now work with Barncrest's designers to take his prototype forward to the next level and possibly seeing it being manufactured and sold commercially."

"This is the first design competition I've entered," said Ambrose Vevers. "It has made me feel that my work has merit and that I'm on the right track to becoming a designer of the future. Without the help of my course tutors and technicians though, my ideas would still be sitting in my sketch book, and I wouldn't have this amazing opportunity."

Second prize of £400 was awarded to James Howlett for his modular tables and third prize of £100 was awarded to Sarah Parks for her interlocking benches idea.

The Design Centre at the College's Tremough Campus offers students some of the most modern equipment in the country and its open plan layout encourages staff and students from a range of courses to share ideas and techniques.

University College Falmouth's School of Design attracts Visiting Professors such as Edward Barber of Barber Osgerby and fashion designer, Luella Bartley as well as a range of high-profile speakers that include Tomoko Azumi, John McConnell and Peter Saville.

For further information about BA(Hons) 3D Design at University College Falmouth, visit www.falmouth.ac.uk/3ddesign, email admissions@falmouth.ac.uk or telephone Admissions on 01326 214354.

For further information about Barncrest Worktops, visit http://www.barncrest.co.uk/, email enquiries@barncrest.co.uk or tradesales@barncrest.co.uk or telephone 01326 375982 (Retail), 01326 378243 (Trade).

Ends

Barncrest Worktops

Barncrest Worktops employs 18 full time staff at its 20,000 square foot factory on the Kernick Industrial Estate in Penryn. Established ten years ago, Barncrest is now one of the UK's leading manufacturers and suppliers of kitchen worktops to both trade and individual customers. Kitchen retailers and fitters can contact the trade department on 01326 378 243 for further details. Individual customers can visit the online store at http://www.barncrest.co.uk/ or call us on 01326 375982.

Barncrest's unique strength is its ability to produce a large range of completely bespoke worktops, tables and shelves in oak, walnut, cherry, iroko and beech. Combining the latest CNC technology with hand-finished carpentry allows Barncrest to maintain an enviable reputation for outstanding bespoke quality.

Over the last 18 months Barncrest have employed environmental consultants to lower energy consumption and reduce its carbon footprint across all operations, with every aspect having been looked at and reformed. Staff have been counselled and trained so that Barncrest now operate best practices for recycling operations, heating, lighting, water and electricity consumption.

Over 80% of business waste is now recycled. This includes: wood chips and wood dust (which are recycled into eco-fuel briquettes); paper; glass; metals; packaging and IT equipment. Additionally, the company's new extraction systems are self-contained and therefore do not release any emissions to the air.

University College Falmouth

University College Falmouth is the only independent Higher Education institution in Cornwall with the powers to award degrees in its own name. It has two campuses in Cornwall - at Woodlane in Falmouth and Tremough in Penryn (which it owns, and jointly manages with the University of Exeter) - and a third campus at Totnes in Devon, following its merger with Dartington College of Arts in 2008.

This merger created a new institution focusing on the expansion of Falmouth's expertise in Art, Design and Media and Dartington's expertise in Choreography, Music, Theatre, Art and Writing. The Devon-based courses will relocate to a new, high-specification Performance Centre at Tremough in 2010, paving the way for a new specialist Arts University in Cornwall by 2012 that will be unique to the South West.

The College is a founding partner in the Combined Universities in Cornwall (CUC), a unique initiative to promote regional economic regeneration through Higher Education, funded mainly by the European Union, the South West Regional Development Agency, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England, with support from Cornwall County Council.

For further information about University College Falmouth, please contact Jilly Easterby MCIPR, Head of Public Affairs, Telephone: 01326 213792; or email: jilly.easterby@falmouth.ac.uk

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